Middleport Community

Village of Middleport

NYS DEC

Information from

Category: Information

On Tuesday, July 25,2017, FMC held a meeting to introduce a few new personal who will be working either at the Middleport plant or associated with the arsenic cleanup. The attendees besides FMC related personnel included village leaders, school board members, the school superintendent and chairman of the MCIG.

Mr. John Paul Rossi in now the lead engineer for the environmental cleanup replacing Shawn Tolan. Shawn is still connected with the cleanup but will not be associated with the day to day activity.

Mr. Leonardo Picanto is the current interim plant manager replacing Greg Sullivan who left this past April. Mr. Picanto is from the FMC facility in Brazil.

Christina Kaba is the Director of Environmental Health and Safety in Philadelphia replacing Bob Forbes who retired at the end of 2016.

Roberta Kloda is manager for Environmental Health and Safety at the Middleport plant. Also Yolanda Rivero is a safety specialist.

FMC Middleport is placing an emphasis on employee safety both at the plant and in the home and community. Various programs are being implemented to further this goal

FMC is continuing to study and conduct remedial efforts for the various operative units in and surrounding Middleport except for the air deposition area and the Roy-Hart school which the DEC continues to do on a unilateral basis. FMC has won the court decision concerning the Agency selected remedy for the Air Deposition Area but the DEC is appealing. Until a ruling is rendered on the appeal, the judge has allowed the DEC to continue with the cleanup using their remedy (absolute max 20 PPM). However, this may change if the appeal goes in FMC's favor. The ruling is expected this coming fall. The suit concerns the DEC selected remedy as it was not one of the remedies outlined in the CMS for the Air Deposition Area. The ruling could impact the work for next year.

FMC is currently working on the CMS for Operative Unit 6, the Jeddo Creek Tributary, with an expected completion of the draft report by November of this year. It will then be submitted to the Agencies for review. If events go as in the past, the Agencies will want changes with the CMS, FMC will negotiate and make some, the modified CMS will be submitted, the Agencies hopefully will accept it, there will be a public comment period, comment responses will be published by the Agencies, a remedy selected (hopefully one in the CMS) and then work will begin.

As for the part of the tributary between Frances St and the Erie Canal, the Agencies have directed FMC to perform an Interim Corrective Measure (ICM) to remove contaminated soil from the creek bed and floodplain. The DEC has accepted the preliminary plan and FMC will submit the final plan on August 14. If the final plan is accepted, the work will begin in 2018 and be completed by fall 2019. Twenty six residential, commercial and public properties whose backyards are part of the floodplain will be effected. This work is not part of the law suit between FMC and the DEC

FMC is working on the RFI for OP3 which are the two areas north of the canal and east of the Niagara-Orleans County line

Dr. Klatt, school superintendent, stated it appears there may be 3 more phases of remediation at the school meaning 3 more years of work by the DEC. The area in front of the two schools bordering State St. will need to be done along with more areas to the rear and west of the high school and east of the middle school.

The Norco plant site has seen no activity and is considered part of the Air Deposition Area. It is up the the DEC to come up with a solution for that property pending the appeal.

FMC is continuing with the Home Value Assurance Program through 2018 for homes in the study areas. Homes that are for sale in Middleport are typically selling quickly and at good prices so the cleanup activity does not appear to be effecting that.

The MCIG website (middleport-future.com) has been down the last couple of days. It has been receiving an unusual number of hits the last few months and exceeded its allotted activity. The reason for these hits is not clear as is their source. It may be increased interest or it could be hackers. Programs are being put in place to determine the source.

FMC has filed a suit against the DEC in Albany court and against the EPA in Buffalo Federal court.

FMC filed a notice of dispute regarding the remediation remedy selected and the method it was selected by the DEC requesting EPA consideration and possible reversal. The EPA has declined, stating the consent decree does not allow them to reconsider the selected remedy. FMC disagrees with this position and has filed a petition with the Federal court on Buffalo requesting a judge to examine the consent decree and make a decision whether the EPA can or cannot reconsider the remedy.

Also, FMC filed a suit in Albany court to stop the DEC from imposing their remedy on the community when there are other alternatives that are effective. The DEC remedy would remove any soil with arsenic levels above the established background of 20 PPM. FMC has said they are ready to begin now removing enough soil from each property to bring the average down for that property to 20 PPM. The difference in the amount of soil to remove and time to execute the cleanup between the two alternatives is considerable. The EPA allows for averaging in some regulations. The DEC has not agreed.

The DEC has said in the past they would work with each property owner on an individual basis to allow flexibility in order to save a tree or some other item the owner wanted to save. However in their specifications for the cleanup, the definition of flexibility is so restrictive that very little could be saved if the owner wanted to receive a "No Further Action Needed" classification.

FMC has submitted their draft of the Corrective Measures Study (CMS) Work Plan for Volume V to the government agencies for their review and approval. This volume covers the Jeddo Creek tributary between Francis St. and Pearson Rd. The study effects those properties with land in the flood plain of the tributary which include properties on the west side of N. Hartland St. and some properties on Church St, Francis St., Orchard St., Chase Rd. and Sherman Rd. including the mobile home park.

The work plan is available in the Document Repository under CMS Work Plans. Click here to download the PDF file directly.

Please keep in mind this is not the actual CMS but a plan on how the CMS will be developed.

The transcript from the public session held on June 14, 2011, at the Middleport Fire Hall so government agencies with over site of the FMC remediation project in Middleport could receive comments on the draft Corrective Measures Study Report for the Air deposition Area and Culvert 105 is available through this link: Click here

The Draft CMS Report for the Air Deposition Area and Culvert 105 study areas is available for review. There is also a much shorter Executive Summary. The Draft CMS Report, Executive Summary and Appendices are available for download as PDF files from the Document Repository on this web site. The full unabridged version is also available at the Middleport Library or at the FMC office at 15 Main St.

The public comment period will begin May 17th and ends July 1, 2011. Concerned individuals can submit comments or questions to the agencies by sending them in written format to :Mr. Matt Mortifolio
NYSDEC Project manager
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-7017

Written comments can also be E-mailed to mjmortef@gw.dec.state.ny.us

There will be an open public session at the Middleport Fire Hall were verbal comments can be made. An afternoon session between 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM will be informal were members from the three agencies will sit down in one on one discussions. The evening session between 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM will be a formal session with brief presentations from both FMC and the Agencies before the floor will be open for anyone to give a verbal comment. There will be a stenographer present who will transcribe the session for later publication. All written and verbal comments/questions will be answered by the Agencies and published for public review sometime later in the summer or early fall.

FMC and the government agencies have come to an agreement on how to proceed with the CMS for the Air Deposition Area and Culvert 105. There were 4 requests from the list of directives by the Agencies for changes to FMC's CMS report which FMC did not accept in their letter to the Agencies dated December 10, 2010.

In a letter dated December 21, 2010, FMC accepted the Agencies' modified directives and therefore avoided any action that would lead to filing for dispute resolution under the current Oder of Consent. FMC has set a target date for May 20, 2011 for completion of the revised CMS report. At that time there will probably be another review and comment by the Agencies before an agreed to report can be ready for public review.

The MCIG does not anticipate a need for the next meeting until the May time frame. An announcement will be made at the appropriate time. Updates will be made monthly using the "Keeping You Posted" notes available in the Document Repository under Meeting Materials.

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Next Meeting Date

There are no plans for a meeting at this time.

All meetings run from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge, 20 Main St. in the Village. All Middleport residents and property owners are welcome to stop by anytime while we are meeting.